Movie Picks

We did not receive schedules for Carmike 10 and Chapel Hills 15. Please call the theaters for times and film information.

13 going on 30 (PG-13)

Jennifer Garner is Jenna, a pre-teen who makes a wish and wakes up on her 13th birthday as a 30-year-old woman. Also stars Mark Ruffalo. -- Not reviewed.

Cinemark 16, Tinseltown

Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London (PG)

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Big Fish (PG-13)

Tolerable Southern accents and fine performances don't make Big Fish anything more than a pleasantly forgetful two hours. This standard father-son estrangement story uses magical realism to trumpet a pat and quickly redundant message: Stories, whether real or embellished, are the equivalent of chicken soup for our souls. Albert Finney stars as the elder Edward Bloom (Ewan McGregor is Bloom in his youth), a man whose love for his own narrative borders on the megalomaniac. A montage of Bloom's tall tales comprises the bulk of the film. Unfortunately, they don't really add up to a plot or anything that lops substance onto the film's facile characters. -- John Dicker

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Butterfly Effect (R)

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Cheaper by the Dozen (PG)

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Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen (PG)

Hip New Yorker Lola, freshly relocated to the Jersey suburbs, can't quite fit in at her new school. As Lola guns for the lead role in the school play, she's pitted against the reigning teenage queen, who has a few aces up her sleeve. -- Not reviewed

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Dawn of the Dead (R)

The survivors of a worldwide plague that is producing the flesh-hungry undead take refuge in a mega shopping mall. With Ving Rhames and Sarah Polley. -- Not reviewed

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Ella Enchanted (PG)

Ella receives the "gift" of obedience at birth from her fairy Godmother. In her quest to rid herself of this curse, she encounters ogres, giants and a talking book. Starring Anne Hathaway (The Princess Diaries). -- Not reviewed

Cinemark 16, Tinseltown

Envy (PG-13)

Ben Stiller and Jack Black star as Tim and Nick, best friends, neighbors and co-workers, whose equal footing is suddenly tripped up when one of Nick's harebrained get-rich-quick schemes actually succeeds. -- Not reviewed

Cinemark 16, Tinseltown

Godsend (PG-13)

After their young son, Adam (Cameron Bright), is killed in an accident, a couple (Greg Kinnear, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos) approach an expert in stem cell research (Robert De Niro) about bringing him back to life through an experimental and illegal cloning and regeneration process. -- Not reviewed

Cinemark 16, Tinseltown

Gospel of John (PG-13)

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Grand Canyon (NR)

Cinemark IMAX

Haunted Mansion (PG)

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*Hellboy (PG-13)

Ron Perlman has racked up quite a rsum playing the gentle (and not-so-gentle) giant. In Hellboy, the spawn of Satan who is raised by humans to make choices for good, Perlman has found the character of a lifetime. Director Guillermo Del Toro seems to have hit upon the ideal mix of dark surroundings, wry humor and mythical characters in this comic book adaptation. Hellboy is an unforgettable character, strengthened by Perlman's mellifluous baritone and his fine instinctive empathy for the outcast. With the exception of the first X-Men, this is the best of a rising genre that's nonsensical but visually thrilling. -- Kathryn Eastburn

Tinseltown

*Hidalgo (PG-13)

Frank T. Hopkins (Viggo Mortensen) is a cowboy who enters "The Ocean of Fire," a 3,000-mile race across the Arabian Desert. Presiding over the race is a sheik played by Omar Sharif, and watching from the sidelines is Lady Davenport, who sizes up Hopkins' cute cowboy butt like so much horseflesh. Hidalgo is an old-fashioned horse tale/ screen romp that falls somewhere between Seabiscuit and Raiders of the Lost Ark. Mortensen and the mustang enjoy an easy rapport, and their journey over mountains of dunes, through sandstorms and across centuries is a pleasure to watch. -- Kathryn Eastburn

Cinemark 16

Home on the Range (PG)

When an eviction notice shows up at the gates of the Patch of Heaven dairy farm, three cows take it upon themselves to prevent their home from being taken away. An animated feature with the voices of Roseanne Barr, Judi Dench, Jennifer Tilley and Cuba Gooding Jr. -- Not reviewed

Tinseltown

Johnson Family Vacation (PG-13)

Nate Johnson (Cedric The Entertainer) and his family embark on a cross-country trek to their annual family reunion in Missouri. Also stars Vanessa Williams. -- Not reviewed

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*Kill Bill Vol. II (R)

The second installment of Kill Bill is as much of a delight as the first and easily the director's best work since Pulp Fiction. Unlike Vol. I, which was marked by acrobatic kung fu orgies and preposterous body counts, the final installment doles out more psychological drama than straight up killing. Tarantino has previously taught us that even the most murderous gangsters can be redeemed. Kill Bill's lesson is similar and sillier: being a ruthless killer and a good mom are not mutually exclusive. Handy stuff to know, strangely enjoyable to watch, and probably a good idea to forget. -- John Dicker

Cinemark 16, Cinemark IMAX, Tinseltown

Laws of Attraction (PG-13)

Amidst a sea of litigation, two New York divorce attorneys (Julianne Moore and Pierce Brosnan) are often competing against each other in the courtroom, but end up in a relationship nonetheless. -- Not reviewed

Cinemark 16, Tinseltown

*Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (PG-13)

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Man on Fire (R)

Denzel Washington stars as a sullen and remorseful bodyguard who will stop at nothing to avenge the kidnap and murder of his charge (Dakota Fanning). Christopher Walken and Giancarlo Giannini also star in this Tony Scott adaptation of a novel by A.J. Quinnell. -- Not reviewed.

Cinemark 16, Tinseltown

*Mean Girls (PG-13)

Cady Heron (Lindsay Lohan) is a 16-year-old raised in Africa by her anthropologist parents. When her mom is relocated, Cady is inaugurated into the social viper pit of American high school and finds herself caught between two polarized cliques: semi-intellectual Lizzy Caplan (goth chick) and Daniel Franzese (queen extraordinaire) and "The Plastics," a group of popular girls led by Regina (Rachel McAdams). When Regina decides to reclaim her ex-boyfriend simply because Cady is interested, Cady plans to foil Regina, causing her to grow more plastic than the Plastics. Mean Girls is a smart comedy splattered with ingenious writing from Tina Fey although its attempt to skewer the image-obsession of teen girls while making a sexy spectacle of their bodies, suffers from its contradictions. -- John Dicker

Cinemark 16, Tinseltown

*Nascar 3D (PG) (in IMAX 3-D)

By now, you probably know that NASCAR is the most popular spectator sport in America and Middle America's unofficial pastime. The film is a 47-minute NASCAR For Dummies primer that includes a brief history of the sport, short profiles of its legends and brief exegesis of its technical underpinnings. Of course, there's no shortage of vroom and boom -- with plenty of point-of-view shots taken inside the speeding cars and sprawling shots of surging racetrack crowds to rival Triumph of the Will. This sport is HUGE. -- John Dicker

Cinemark IMAX

New York Minute (PG)

The Olsen twins make the transition from being nearly everywhere to being, well, everywhere. On the way to New York City, the sisters get immersed in a black market deal, are chased by an overly exuberant truant officer (Eugene Levy) and fall in love with a senator's son and a bike messenger.

Cinemark 16, Tinseltown

The Punisher (R)

Thomas Jane is FBI agent Frank Castle whose undercover operation goes badly wrong when a young man dies. The parents of the victim, Howard Saint (John Travolta) and his wife (Laura Harring), decide to seek vengeance by killing Castle and his family. Castle survives, becomes the Punisher and decides to repay the compliment. -- Not reviewed

Cinemark 16, Tinseltown

Sacred Planet (NR) Cinemark IMAX

Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (PG)

The sequel to the 2002 film that first brought Scooby and the gang to the big screen. -- Not reviewed

Cinemark 16

Secret Window (PG-13)

At a lakeside cabin, Mort Rainey (Johnny Depp) suffers writer's block and battles the crazed John Shooter (John Turturro). They broker a deal: if Rainey can prove he wrote the tale Shooter will back off. If he can't, well, the murder of Rainey's dog offers a good indication of what's to come. The ever-lovable Depp makes this chore of a film bearable at times. Based on a Stephen King novella and directed by David Koepp. -- John Dicker

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Van Helsing (PG-13)

It's the 19th century and Van Helsing (Hugh Jackman) is off to Transylvania to root out evil. Joined by Anna (Kate Beckinsale) who is trying to rid her family of a curse, the two do battle with Count Dracula (Richard Roxbough) and confront Frankenstein's creature and hunchbacked assistant Igor; a Wolf Man; and Dracula's three bloodsucking brides. Directed by Stephen Sommers of the Mummy series. -- Not reviewed

Cinemark 16, Tinseltown

Walking Tall (PG-13)

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is a retired soldier who returns to his hometown to find it overrun with crime. With the help of Jackass star Johnny Knoxville he becomes sheriff and decides to clean up the town. -- Not reviewed